Space Sheriff Gavan
by Sir Koji
Summary: A "The First" take on Gavan, with inspiration from Ultraseven X and a more police themed storyline than the normal show and movie was.


A while ago I was asked to write a "The First" version of Gavan, and so I took the challenge up and put it aside for a while. With summer here I was finally able to delve into the project and finish in pretty good time. Anyway, this is a different take on Gavan, in a manner similar to Kamen Rider: The First/Next. I tried to make it darker, more realistic, and focused it as more of a crime story, and on Retsu's problems.

As with my other works, there's a toku alumni cast, and as always, in as current an appearance as I can find online. These include the following:

Retsu Ichijouji - Hiroya Matsumoto (MagiYellow/Beet Buster)

Hanto Kira - Hirofumi Araki (Rio, Gekiranger)

Commander Qom - Iura Arata (not an alumni)

Taisho Fujita - Ruito Aoyagi (not an alumni)

Mimi - Yoko Mitsuya (Kamen Rider L'arc)

Den Iga - Minehrio Kinomoto (Kamen Rider Accel)

* * *

**In the year 2090, Tokyo, like the rest of the Earth, has evolved into a high technology based metropolis. Buildings rise high into the sky, as testament to mankind's growth. They have reached out beyond the bounds of the Earth, using space travel and space technology to utilize wormholes for opening up communication with other species. Aliens.**

**These alien species are varied. Some wish to make peace with humanity, while some wish to cause harm. Migrating to the Earth and spreading out, mankind realized that it was difficult to know who was friend, who was foe. They established the Galactic Police Union with the help of aliens they knew as allies, and colonized another planet known for the only living animals to be birds.**

**The Bird Planet is now the training grounds for those men and women who would take up protecting the Earth and other planets which have attempted to befriend the Earth and its people. Utilizing the newest technologies, these people have adopted the titles of 'Space Sheriff'.**

**The Space Sheriffs operate in various ways. Some use their wits and weaponry, while others yet use highly advanced combat suits as a precautionary method. On Earth there is a single Sheriff utilizing armor, looking out for the future of his people.**

**Retsu Ichijouji.**

**Space Sheriff Gavan.**

* * *

The city was drenched in darkness, with the only real illumination coming from the lit rooms of the buildings that reached into the sky. Cars flew between the buildings, following a set road, providing light in front of them, but little else. The sound carried far. The streets far below were mostly empty, unimportant at this moment.

Atop the large buildings sat landing pads for the flying cars and other such vehicles. One of these buildings had a long armored vehicle sitting upon it, two large wings sweeping out, turbines pointing down out of the wings for lift, jets in the back for thrust. The side was open, a ramp leading down onto the rooftop, being packed full of a series of boxes and crates.

The people loading the ship were all clothed in black leather. Pants, jackets, gloves, with boots. The one thing that made them all look a lot different was the fact that they all wore masks. Black was the main color, taking up the bulk of it, with white lines running through it, giving it a ribbing effect. Red molds were under the chin, and angled down towards the eyes, bending around the head. There was another one on top, coming down, but with a large piece of yellow on it instead of being pure red.

These individuals were part of a gang known as the 'Crushers'. They were armed and dangerous, and working for someone even more dangerous. There was a figure walking around the rooftop, looking anxiously at the groups of Crushers. He was an alien life-form of a butterfly-like species.

His body was crimson and yellow, with his legs having a mixed appearance until his knees. From the knees to his hips his legs were a crimson color with a slight motif of honeycombs running upwards, very slight in appearance.

His torso was mostly the yellow color, with breaks of black running through, creating a wavy appearance in the yellow. His upper chest had splashes of red intermixing with the yellow appearance. His entire torso had a more armored appearance than his limbs did.

His arms were yellow, but broke into a mix of yellow and red at the elbows on down, but his hands were crimson. The hexagon pattern returned at the entire length of his arms.

His back had a cape-like crimson piece hanging down. In actuality these were wings, which the adult of the species couldn't use for flight. Perhaps for slowing a descent, but not for flight. As an adult, however, they also doubled as a stinger, being flexible but extremely resilient and tough, and able to pierce at their tips.

His head was like that of a bee. He had mandibles coming out of his mouth. His head was yellow with two large blue eyes, split apart in a grid pattern, creating a mirrored lens for anyone who would look at his eyes. He had two dark antennae coming off the top of his head and bending down slightly.

This alien had more on, however. He had an armored piece on his left arm, which covered most of it in a honeycomb-like armor for shielding and other purposes. He wore a belt around his waist which had an energy pistol strapped to it. He wore a golden chain around his neck, hanging down to his mid chest with a golden symbol affixed to the end; in the mold of a female of his species. He ran his right thumb over the naked form as he walked, barking orders out in a voice that was a mix of a squeak and a bark, which made him both intimidating and something you could almost laugh at.

"Hurry, damn you!" he shouted to the Crushers, "What do you think I'm paying you for? Slow work? Move it!"

One Crusher lost his grip on his box. It fell, the side cracking and spilling out a few bags of a white powdery substance. The alien walked over to the Crusher as he was hurriedly packing them back into the box.

The Crusher was too busy hurrying and hoping that his employer hadn't seen. The alien stood directly behind him, lifted his pistol, and executed the Crusher with a single shot through the back of the head.

"Someone take care of this box!" he shouted, "I want all of these gone within ten minutes! I have many clients to sell to!"

One Crusher went down as he emerged from the staircase that led down into the alien's penthouse. His box fell, spilling bags of drugs all over the place. The alien and a few Crushers looked back to see a man standing over the downed Crusher, laser pistol in his hands and aimed for them.

"Stay where you are!" he shouted down at all of them, "Put your hands up, now!"

The alien tapped his fingers against the pistol he still had in hand. The man's attention went to the butterfly alien, and so did his weapon.

"Drop it!" he shouted. "Blen-Tak, you are under arrest under Galactic statute 258.96(b). Distribution of illegal substances! Now, drop your weapon and come willingly, and we won't have to do this the hard way!"

Blen-Tak slowly began to crouch down, keeping his weapon down, as if he was going to set it down. He was no fool; he knew how to get out of these situations. The way this man was handling the situation based on his entrance, Blen-Tak assumed he was alone. One dead Space Sheriff or officer – whatever he was – would be no problem.

As soon as Blen-Tak's weapon touched ground, a Crusher behind him drew his weapon and fired over Blen-Tak's head, striking the man in the shoulder. He cried out as the blood sprayed out of his wounded left shoulder and lifted his right arm, taking aim through the pain. He fired a few shots, but nothing hit anything of worth.

Blen-Tak rose, lifting his weapon. He fired as he walked towards the man, his shot being that of an expert, only missing because the man wasn't foolish enough to stand or move in a straight line, making hitting him much more difficult.

The man took cover behind a large steel object on the rooftop, sitting there for ventilation purposes. The laser bolt wasn't able to go through it, so he was safe there. For now.

Blen-Tak slowly went around the side, seeing the man sitting there, looking the other way. He had approached on the left, towards the wounded side. The man had been looking right, to his good side.

This mistake would cost him his life.

Blen-Tak leveled the slightly warm barrel of his weapon against the man's skull, "You're dead," he hissed, "How much does the Galactic Police Union know?"

There was a moment of tense silence. Blen-Tak tapped his finger against the trigger, enough to make a sound and nothing more.

"Talk!" he shouted.

Suddenly a blade came down. The steel, covered in energy, cut through Blen-Tak's wrist. The gun and hand fell to the ground harmlessly. The shocked alien turned his head, seeing a red armored figure in the many small eyes that made up his two large eyes.

The figure was armored in red, silver and black, primarily. There was a shine to his suit, even in this dark environment. He had crimson feet with silver rounding at his ankles, and then a little black before it became crimson again, up to his knees. His knees were silver, which then gave way to more crimson up to his waist, where there was some black.

His lower body was red, with a yellow bar running through it, a green light in the center, almost like a belt that didn't go around his entire waist. His abdomen area had a silver piece, and then it gave way to more red, covered in lights at the center of his torso, perhaps medals of some sort. He had silver at his shoulders, which gave way to red, and then silver at his elbows and gauntlets.

His head was mostly silver, with an almost mouth-like appearance, and a black visor rounding around the back of his head. There was some white around the visor, and then crimson at the top of the head, with more assortments of colors, similar to his chest.

He wore a holster on his right hip, where an energy pistol rested. He clutched his sword tightly in his right hand, having no noticeable position to holster it at.

The armored man shifted, using his free left hand to punch Blen-Tak twice in the face. As the alien stumbled back, the man lifted his sword up, looking down the energized blade at the alien and his Crusher associates.

"Everyone, drop your weapons, now!" he shouted out, his voice carrying a metallic distortion from the helmet. "Drop them now, or Blen-Tak dies, and the rest of you with him!"

The Crusher whom had shot the first man dropped his weapon. The others just put their hands up, in no position to get their weapons to drop them. They figured that going for them for the sole purpose of dropping them wouldn't bode well. Better to just tell where they were when they were arrested.

Hover ships came up around the rooftop, bathing it in light. These ships were without angle, being ovular and heavily armored, with blades spinning on top, like a helicopter, helping them with movement. The doors slid open on both sides of the ships, allowing men to jump out and onto the rooftop. These men were clad in black with body armor and rifles; a SWAT unit.

The unit went about the Crushers, putting hands behind backs and securing the prisoners. The crimson suited man cut the energy flow off of his blade and plunged it into the ground. He grabbed Blen-Tak and pushed him against the steel object that the other man had hidden behind, forcing arms behind back. He affixed one of the handcuff ends to the only wrist Blen-Tak had, and sent about trying to secure the other to the alien's upper arm while also trying to disengage the armor that the alien wore on his arm.

As two men came to take care of Blen-Tak, the crimson armored man walked towards the wounded officer, who still sat with his back against the object. The man finally holstered his weapon and looked at the man in the crimson armor.

"You need to be more careful, Retsu," the man said as his armor faded.

The man named Retsu was a man of around twenty eight years of age. He had a decent face, though a large nose. His hair was brown and long, coming down to about his shoulders and possessing a wave to it. He wasn't dressed in the official garb of a Space Sheriff, but rather in a dark jacket, black tactical pants and boots, and a dark shirt. This wasn't exactly official business anyway. The official uniform was too stiff to use in continual assignments. Most Sheriffs wore something like this on the job.

The other man was younger, around twenty two years of age. He was wearing a white shirt that clung closely to his body, and black tactical pants with boots. He had brown hair that hung around down to around his eyebrows all around his head, just kind of there, nothing special about it. His name was Den.

Retsu shook his head at Den as a few paramedics came back to them. One of them pulled his jacket aside while another tore his shirt open to get at the wound.

"Hey!" he scolded, "I could have just taken it off…" but they weren't going to acknowledge him.

Retsu looked at Den, "When you get to be my age you'll understand," he told the younger Space Sheriff.

"You're not too much older," Den told him, "I don't think…what, five, six years will make me foolish."

"There's a difference between foolish and me," Retsu told him. He took in a deep breath mixed with pain as the paramedics did something to his wound. It had been a clean shot, going all the way through. They were putting some sort of foam into the wound, likely to seal and start regenerating the damaged tissue and bone. This process wouldn't take more than a few hours with a wound this size.

"And what would that be?" Den questioned, "Because as I see it, you're pretty foolish. You knew backup was coming, and yet you stormed in alone."

"He was going to get away," Retsu told him, "I had to stop him. Or at least slow him down. And we got him, didn't we?" He didn't want to give Den much of a chance to respond. Retsu felt right about his decision, and didn't want to think more of it, "I didn't expect you on Earth."

Den nodded, "It's only temporary. I'll be moving out again soon. I requested to take part in this when I heard about it. Commander Qom agreed to let me. I wasn't going to miss out on taking down Blen-Tak, the major drug dealer." Continuing in Retsu's fashion, he didn't give the other man a chance to speak, "By the way. Qom wants to see you."

Retsu just sighed, shaking his head as the paramedics bandaged his shoulder and left him. He shrugged his coat back on, "I don't like Qom…"

"Then nothing has changed," Den commented.

"Exactly," Retsu said, "Nothing that man does will make me like him. Commander or not, it's not happening."

Den looked back at the officers who were finishing with transporting the Crushers into the ships, and were now dealing with the ship filled with drugs. He looked back at Retsu, "I need to be going."

"I understand," Retsu told him.

"I won't be on Earth," Den said.

"I'll see you next time you are, then," Retsu said.

Den nodded and gave him a small smile, "Sounds good. See you, Retsu."

"See ya…"

Den walked out and ran to one of the SWAT vehicles. He climbed aboard before it left, taking it as his lift back to the Tokyo headquarters so he could get back to his ship and leave the Earth.

As Retsu sat there he saw another man approaching him. This one was clad in SWAT gear, although without the rifle or helmet. His vest was open, and what he wore underneath was just a black shirt, not a police uniform.

The man sat beside him, "I get it," he told Retsu.

This man was around twenty nine years of age, just a bit older than Retsu. His face had youth, yet was worn with some lines. He had brown hair, hanging down past his eyes, but swept to the sides. He was a handsome man, and used that to his advantage with women.

"Growing older isn't easy," he continued, "Hell, thirty is considered old as a Space Sheriff."

Retsu just laughed a little, a small smile coming to his face as he shook his head a little, "I've only been on the job for nine years."

"Twelve. I was feeling terrible at eight," the other man said. Being on Retsu's right, he was able to clasp his hand onto Retsu's good shoulder, "You should think of your daughter the next time you decide to do something stupid like that."

"I always am…," Retsu said. He paused for a moment before looking to the other man, "I knew what I was doing. I would never do something stupid."

The other man shifted, reaching in front of Retsu and poked his wounded shoulder. Retsu inhaled sharply, hissing in pain.

The man stood up and walked away from Retsu, "Remember that next time you think you're making the right move."

* * *

The only light in the small apartment was the bluish glow of the computer monitor. Retsu's apartment didn't have a lot. The sitting room was rather small, pretty much with just one couch, a small television, a small table built into the wall that was also a doorway into a small kitchen, and two rooms branching off. A bathroom and Retsu's bedroom.

Retsu walked out of the bedroom, turning the light off. Bandages crossed his body, as he found bandaging his shoulder to be somewhat difficult. He couldn't get it to stay properly by just bandaging it under his arm, so he had to cross his torso with the bandages as well, making him look more wounded than he actually was.

He walked over to the monitor and set himself down in the chair, reaching out to the screen, touching it to activate it.

"Bring up communication link," he said to the screen.

In a few moments the screen showed a new image. First some static, and then the face of a young girl, somewhere between four to six years old. She smiled when she saw Retsu on the screen, "Daddy!" she told him happily.

He smiled, "How are you?" he asked her. He thought that that was such a terrible way to start the conversation, but it was all he could think of at the moment. He had so much he wanted to talk to her about, so much he wanted to hear, but that's the best opening he could think of.

She pointed in the direction of his shoulder, "You're hurt…," she told him.

"It's nothing," Retsu told her, "Daddy just got a little hurt at work. It'll be completely fine in the morning."

"Are you sure?" she asked him.

He nodded, "I'm sure. Trust daddy. Tell me about what you've been up to."

Her face lit up at the attention he was giving to her. She loved to talk about herself and about how things were at the school she was living at. She wasn't on Earth anymore, nor on the planet of the birds. She was on a colony world living at a private boarding school, and had been since her mother passed. Retsu couldn't raise her alone, nor could he take care of her with his job as a Space Sheriff, so this had come up as the best option, even if it hurt Retsu to not be able to see his daughter.

He listened to her as she told him about her coloring and her pictures. She had been playing with blocks, on the playgrounds, but was mostly drawing and coloring. She seemed very proud of her work, and reached out of frame for something, pulling a piece of paper out and holding it up for her father to see.

It was of a silver man.

Retsu just smiled, "Who's that?" he asked his daughter.

"It's daddy," she told him, as if she was surprised he'd have to ask, "It's my hero!"

His smile broadened, "It's beautiful, and I wish I could have it here."

"It's a gift for you," she said, "Next time I see you you can have it."

"I'd like that very much," he said, his smile faltering a little, "Jya…I miss you so much, you know that, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she told him.

"And you know how much I love you?"

"Of course."

He nodded, "Keep that picture then. Keep it as a reminder of Earth, until you can be back here living with me again."

She nodded, "I will daddy."

"I miss you so much."

"I miss you too."

Before Retsu could say anything, a bell rang. Jya looked back, and then looked to the screen, "School's starting! I have to go!"

"Then go," he told her, "I love you."

She had cut off the signal before she could hear all of it, and even if she knew that he loved her, he felt a little hurt that she hadn't heard all of it. His screen became blue again, casting him in a blue light, making the room blue again.

He turned around and looked across the dark room at a picture sitting on a small shelf. It was a picture of himself, his late wife, and their daughter. He slowly drew his hand up to his face, into the light.

He wore no ring, but the ring line was still there. He just stared at it.

* * *

As Retsu walked down the white hallways of headquarters, clad in the white dress uniform of a Space Sheriff, he ran into Hanto, his partner, the man from the previous night.

"Qom wants you," Hanto told him. Hanto wore the same dress uniform; white shoes, white pants, and a white jacket that had two rows of buttons running up the center, with somewhat large lapels, and an opening below the neck to show an undershirt, which was white as well. There was a little blue to the uniform jacket, but not much.

Everything here was white. It all shone. It was sickening after a while.

Retsu walked up to the large glass door of Commander Qom's office and knocked before entering, "You wished to see me?" he asked, pulling his heels together and putting his hands behind his back in an attempt to appear formal.

Commander Qom was approximately fifty years old. He had black hair, which was gelled back, and a few moles under his eye with some weariness and lines to his face, adding to his experience and years. He wore the same uniform, but with medals affixed to the left side, and gold trim to signify his status.

As Qom sat behind his desk with a large window to his back, looking down at the sprawling metropolis, a young man stood off to the side, next to a shelf, looking at a few crystalline objects sitting on it. He was in his early twenties with light brown hair, a bit long, but still shorter than Retsu's. He wore a button up shirt and a vest, but not exactly in a formal style with his overall appearance.

Qom raised a hand out in the direction of the younger man, "This is my son, Fujita, Taisho." He lowered his hand and looked at Retsu, "What you did last night was incredibly stupid, do you realize that? It was stupid and dangerous, and Blen-Tak is a notorious drug dealer in Tokyo. You're lucky you didn't get killed. You would have had Den not shown up!"

"I know. It worked out," Retsu said.

"Because of Den!" Qom told him.

"I was about to summon my own armor," Retsu told him, "Had Den not shown up, I'd have summoned my armor before he could shoot, and I'd have taken him down myself."

"But you didn't, and we had no idea if you were going to do anything. Hell, I'm assuming you're making this up right here on the spot, just to have an explanation at hand." He folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward a little, "Look. We spent months tracking that man down and pinpointing the location of his operation all so we could do what we did last night. We had one shot, and you almost ruined it."

"And I apolo-," Retsu was cut off.

"Don't use your wife as an excuse," Qom warned him. He looked to his son, "He's going through Space Sheriff training at the moment." His gaze went back to Retsu, "If you don't shape up, there may very well be a new Gavan."

Retsu stood in silence and looked at Taisho, and then back to Qom. "Go to hell," he told Qom before turning on his heel and storming out of the room, slamming the glass door behind him. He was lucky it didn't shatter from the force he threw it back with.

How dare Qom mention his wife…

He stopped and looked back, "And that brat won't get my armor either!" he shouted, loud enough to be heard inside the office.

Before he could say or do anything else he may regret, Retsu walked on, hurrying once he was out of sight of the office.

Hanto leaned against a wall near the entrance, pushing off of it and walking alongside Retsu once the man finally came out.

"Come on," Hanto said.

* * *

"Your wife's death shouldn't be controlling you this much," Hanto said to the man beside him. He reached down and took his drink off of the bar, taking some of it down before setting the glass back. "I understand why you act this way, but it shouldn't affect your work. There are a lot of people who would like your job, after all."

Retsu shook his head, "A lot of them aren't suited for it. Like Qom's brat," he said. Although he just assumed Qom's son was a brat who was only doing the training and stuff for political purposes, and had no real interest in the law. He may be wrong, but he doubted it.

Hanto shrugged, "I agree. But remember; it's a game of politics. You have to keep the right people happy."

"I'm not cut out for games like that," Retsu said, shaking his head, "These games of politics are too…," he waved his hand around, trying to think of a word, "refined for me," he said, deciding on that one. It wasn't the word he was looking for, but it was close enough.

Hanto took another drink and set it back down on the bar, "I know," he said, "But you'd better learn."

He picked up his drink again, downing the rest of it.

"I refuse."

Hanto span himself around and stood up. He looked back at Retsu, "It's all a game, Retsu. You just don't know how to play it. You'd better learn."

Hanto left Retsu sitting alone at the bar, staring down at his drink. He swirled it around a little before finishing what little there was left of it and setting the empty glass back down.

In response the bartender lifted another drink up. This one was a pinkish colored alcohol that smelled sweetly of fruits. Retsu looked at the drink, then looked up at the bartender with a perplexed expression, "I didn't buy this." It was an expensive drink, and while he would drink it if he wanted to, it wasn't something he'd normally buy. Retsu's choice of drink was just beer, nothing fancy.

"The woman bought it for you," the bartender said, although he didn't gesture to anyone to inform Retsu of who this woman was.

His question was answered when someone took Hanto's seat. She was a young woman, maybe twenty five, twenty six years of age. She had long brown hair and an innocent, lovely face, although she was dressed in a lacy gown that said she was anything but.

"Mimi," Retsu said. "No." He pushed the drink aside, towards her. She bought it, after all.

"Was that for the drink, or for me?" she questioned him, turning her head to him, leaning her tilted head on her hand, her elbow on the top knee of her crossed legs. The assumption was the drink, since he had pushed it away as he said it.

"It's for both," he told her, "Again, I'm not interested in you."

She just shook her head a little. "No man can resist my charms," she said, putting her free hand on his leg as she smiled.

He didn't waste a moment, quickly brushing her hand off as he came to his feet, walking to the exit.

Mimi turned on her barstool and quickly rose to her feet, following him quickly, calling his name, trying to get his attention.

As they exited onto the dark, dirty street, she called to him once more. He turned to her, rather annoyed by this point. At least if there was a scene, he wasn't dressed as a Sheriff. He and Hanto had removed their formal wear hours ago when they left the headquarters.

As she came up to him, he told her how he felt, point blank. "I'm not interested in sleeping with you. Why would a prostitute even want the patronage of a Space Sheriff?" he questioned, "To make you feel safe?"

"Well, my job isn't exactly illegal," she told him, "So why not? You can't arrest me for selling my body, so why not offer it to you? Besides, I want more than just sex from you."

"No," he told her immediately. "I won't get into a relationship with a woman like you. Not with my daughter involved. Maybe if I hadn't been married, maybe if it was just me. But as things are, no."

"So you need a safe woman?" she questioned.

"Pretty much," he said, "I'm a father. I'm allowed to be picky."

Retsu walked off, leaving Mimi alone at the entrance of the bar.

* * *

When there was nothing but darkness in the metropolis that was Tokyo, Retsu walked the back alleys of the city. He wasn't confined to just the seedier areas; but anywhere. The city was filled with anything anywhere at this point. Even a 'nice neighborhood' had its share of the problems. Crime was anywhere and everywhere.

Retsu was dressed in dark clothes, all black. He had an old jacket on, with the hood up, obscuring his face and identity as he walked. He was searching around for only an hour before he finally found a man in dirty clothes selling drugs in one of the back alleys.

Retsu walked towards him and pulled out a wad of cash. He started to count it, but the man shook his head.

"Prices are up."

Retsu just shoved the whole thing to the man, and received a bag of white powder in return, "Blen-Tak's prices were better," Retsu grumbled.

"Blen-Tak is in prison," the dealer told Retsu. "My employer is the only dealer left."

Retsu pocketed the drugs, and when his hand came back out, it was going up, firearm in hand and leveled at the man's face.

"You're under arrest."

* * *

Soon the man was in an interrogation room, one hand handcuffed to the table. Retsu had changed into dark clothes that were more befitting a Space Sheriff; boots, tactical pants, and a dark shirt. Not a uniform, but close enough.

Hanto was with Retsu, helping with the interrogation. He was dressed similarly. Most Sheriffs – if they were armor users like Retsu, or normal Sheriffs like Hanto – wore something of the sort. It was the best they had. An actual field uniform would probably just get in their way.

"Who's your boss?" Hanto shouted at the man, but he just stared at the wall and refused to speak.

Qom was standing at the door, looking in. Retsu glanced to him, wondering why he wasn't behind the mirror instead. Hanto glanced to the door, and Qom turned his back, but remained standing there.

It clicked for Retsu at that moment. Because there he could be seen.

Hanto stepped behind the man, "One more time. Who is your boss?" he shouted.

The man remained silent again.

Hanto smashed his head into the table as hard as he could, "Who?" he shouted.

The man just cried out in pain.

He hit his head into the table again, "Who?"

He threw the man's head back and kicked his chair out as far as the handcuff chain would let him go. He kicked the man dead center in the chest, cracking the legs under the force and dropping him to the ground, wrenching his arm up because of the chain.

Hanto stood over him, driving a foot down onto his shoulder, breaking it, causing the man to scream more. He reached down, grabbing the man's throat and he started to squeeze.

"When I release your throat, you will talk. Got it?" he hissed.

Retsu looked at Qom's back, and at Hanto. He couldn't just turn his back to this, but he couldn't get involved. He opened the door and walked out, going to watch from behind the mirror. He had to see what was happening, but in no way was he going to help Hanto. Should he stop his partner? Probably.

But he didn't.

Hanto released the man's throat, but he only screamed. Hanto grabbed a splintered piece of wood and drove it into the man's left eye, causing the scream to die out. He was just screaming too much, his voice was going.

There was silence and panting. Hanto crouched down, lowering his head down by the other man's, "A name," he whispered.

After a moment he rose and walked out, going into the observation room where Retsu was.

"Come on, it's time to go," he told his partner.

Retsu looked one more time into the room. He felt too squeamish to take much of a look, and followed Hanto out into the empty hallway.

"It's part of the job," Hanto said, not looking at Retsu. "I don't like doing it, but it's a part of it."

"I disagree," Retsu said.

Hanto didn't say anything back as they walked on. They still had a few hours of darkness left.

* * *

"This is Kira, Hanto," Hanto said over his radio. He was wearing a SWAT vest and strapped with a handgun and rifle, along with other SWAT gear. He had three SWAT officers with him, and there were others with Retsu, and others were nearby on the roof and still coming up as backup. "Begin operation."

The dealer had given away his boss, and within an hour the unit was mobilized. Retsu was going to make first contact with two men with him, and the others were going to be moments behind.

Retsu broke down the penthouse door, wearing roughly the same amount of gear that Hanto wore. They needed to be on par with the SWAT members. The two officers lifted their rifles while Retsu's hand went to his pistol, but he didn't draw.

The dealer was an alien. He was a dinosaur-like alien, his scaly-flesh being dark-brown. He wore tall black boots and black pants of some sort. He had a muscular frame barely hidden by what looked like a leather tank-top. He was taller than an average person, and thicker as well, bristling with muscle.

On his shoulders he had what looked like armor; round, spiked pieces of armor. He wore gauntlets as well, coming up to nearly his elbows. It looked like he had been expecting trouble.

His head was elongated, with a snout and mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. His two eyes looked red, staring straight at Retsu and the officers. On his back he wore a few spears, by the look of it. The tips could be seen, and that's all Retsu could assume they were.

His hand shot down, picking up a rifle. He moved for cover as the SWAT officers fired, returning fire as he ran. Retsu drew his weapon and rolled, getting behind a wall. One of the officers was killed as the rounds tore through his vest. As he fell he kept firing, firing through the ceiling until his body hit the ground, and his firing stopped.

The other officer moved, firing as he went to cover.

The penthouse walls were largely glass; mostly windows. There weren't a lot of places to hide, other than behind furniture, which offered very little protection; none against rounds like these flying.

The windows exploded inwards as SWAT officers rappelled in with Hanto. They fired as they disconnected their lines, slowly moving forward, firing with a slow, measured pace to keep together.

Retsu moved out of cover, seeing the dinosaur alien running down a hallway. The alien had avoided the fire of the new officers by ducking into another room. He was making for the stairs, it looked like.

Retsu lifted his weapon and fired once. The blast tore through some of the scaly flesh on the alien's left arm, causing green blood to spray out onto the wall. The alien let out a roar of pain as he headed up.

More officers entered from the staircase, where Retsu had come in from. Hanto motioned to the two whom had come with him to follow while the others stayed back to do a sweep. They would join as soon as they had cleared the area of any other threats.

Retsu, Hanto and the two SWAT officers rushed up the staircase, onto the rooftop of the building. There were a few other SWAT officers up there, so they were sure the situation was probably handled.

It wasn't. The alien had killed the four of them. His rifle was able to pierce their armor and most of the things they could have hidden behind. Their corpses were riddled with multiple holes, along with their cover. It had been a slaughter.

As Hanto and Retsu came up first, he span to them and fired once, grazing Hanto's leg. Hanto fell to a knee as Retsu and the other officers hurried up and lifted their weapons.

To their surprise, the alien was now wearing bodyarmor, and it appeared to be of a quality even higher than the SWAT officer's armor.

Retsu wasn't fazed. He continued to fire with his pistol, almost forgetting he had a rifle.

The alien avoided the shots and lifted his rifle, firing with a rapid fire burst of laser bursts. Retsu hurried off to the side and rolled, lying prone on the ground behind a barrier, so any shots would go high. One officer moved to cover with him, while the other was shot through the chest as he moved.

The officer whom had taken cover with Retsu was shot through the throat as the alien's round pierced the steel barrier. He collapsed on top of Retsu, but he pushed the corpse off. He looked at the dead man, feeling nothing but sympathy.

Retsu panted and slowly holstered his weapon at his side. He slowly rose to his feet and walked out, seeing the alien's weapon take immediate focus on him, aiming for center mass.

In a split second a laser bolt would be racing for his chest; he knew that.

He threw his hand into the air before that could happen and stared at the alien, shouting out a single word.

"Jouchaku!"

A beam of light came racing down from the sky as the burst of energy came out of the alien's rifle. The beam from the sky hit first, enveloping Retsu in a brilliant shine, forming a sparkling force around his body. Particles of Granium from the orbiting Dolgiran provided him with the best protection in the universe.

As the energy bolt reached him, it couldn't do anything. He was covered in a silver suit of armor, and even though the energy bolt was capable of shredding through most things, the strike at center mass did nothing to him.

Not even a scratch.

His legs were sheer silver, reflecting anything in the minimal light. There was black around the tops of his feet and the backs of his legs, but it was still the powerful material used to protect the body of the Space Sheriff, even if it didn't appear like armor.

He wore a wider piece of armor at his waist, which had a lighted belt-like piece, like Den's did. At his right hip was a holster and energy pistol resting firmly within it. From there on he had a thinner piece of armor before it became thick again at his upper torso. He had a few streaks of black through it, but also lighted pieces running vertically and then horizontally as well. The lights and emblems were like medals; rank insignia.

His arms were mostly the black material, but he also had the silver armor down the backs of his arms, and down parts of the sides. His wrists and gauntlets were purely armor; pure silver.

He had a slightly pointed and rounded shoulder piece on each shoulder to provide more protection there. His helmet was silver and rounded, with a black visor and a few black streaks in a few other spots, but nothing overly noticeable. His forehead had another small set of colored lights, but those didn't serve the purpose of rank, unlike on his chest.

Space Sheriff Gavan.

Retsu took two slow steps towards the alien, who did all he could by firing again and again. After those two steps, Retsu hunched a little and broke into a run straight for the alien, taking each shot to the chest, slightly higher than the other shots. The alien stood his ground and continued to fire without pause, without moving. He was determined to bring the Sheriff down.

As soon as Retsu was within striking range, the alien realized that he wasn't going to be able to stop him with energy rounds. Retsu threw a single left hook into the alien's face, knocking him back. He pivoted, throwing a right jab into his protected chest, causing him to double over and drop his weapon.

The alien stepped forward and threw a punch for Retsu's head. Retsu didn't evade it in time, taking it head on. He stumbled back, his vision blacking out for a few moments. It really did hurt. The alien took another step forward, slamming a downward punch into Retsu's gut, knocking him flat onto his back.

He stomped hard on Retsu's chest, causing the man to cry out. Retsu saw his chance and took it, aiming a hammer punch for the alien's left knee as his left foot came down for another stomp.

The fist connected, but didn't break the joint, as Retsu was hoping for. The pain still forced the alien to back off, giving Retsu time to get up and move forward again.

The alien threw a punch, striking Retsu in the left shoulder this time. Retsu stopped dead and screamed. His shoulder was still terrible. It may have been healed, but that didn't mean a lot. It would be in pain for days yet.

The alien let out a gruff laugh and threw another punch into the shoulder, forcing a screaming Retsu to his knees. He hit it again and again before grabbing both of Retsu's shoulders and slamming him down, into the alien's awaiting knee. Knee connected to face, knocking Retsu flat onto his back.

Before a downward punch could connect, Retsu rolled and reached down to his hip. He gripped the handgun that rested in his holster and pulled it, firing twice into the alien's chest. His armor protected him, allowing him to close the gap and knock the weapon aside, forcing Retsu to dodge back to avoid the next blow.

Cursing, Retsu waved his hand in front of his belt. A sword appeared, floating right in front of it. He took grip of the hilt, lifting the steel weapon and angling it in front of himself, and then lunged, taking a downward swing for the alien.

The alien dodged back, but his vest was sliced open. He reached to his back, grabbing one of the weapons, pulling free a double sided sword. He lunged forward, taking a powerful swing downward; holding it in both hands.

Retsu swung upwards, holding his sword at an angle to make the block. The alien was stronger, even with the Gavan suit giving Retsu extra strength. He was forced to a knee, struggling to keep the weapon from striking him.

One thing was clear; this alien's strength was enough to do damage to the suit. The blade would have no trouble cutting him through, even if such a strong energy round hadn't been able to.

Retsu shouted and slowly rose, finding strength in desperation. He pushed back as hard as he could, but it didn't last long. The strength of the alien came down on him again, forcing him back down.

"It won't be that easy!" the alien screamed at him.

"Maybe it will be…," Retsu muttered, activating the energized charge to the blade. The blade now easily sliced through the alien's weapon as Retsu rose. He planted a heel kick on the alien's chest to knock him flat onto his back, and then leveled the tip of his glowing weapon at the alien's face.

"Game over."

The alien just growled, his hand slowly moving to another weapon.

"Don't," Retsu warned, "Surrender now. You're under arrest. Don't make this go longer than it has to go."

"You won't kill me?" the alien hissed, hand still moving for the blades on his back.

"Don't test me," Retsu hissed back.

His hand stopped, "I surrender," the alien muttered.

After a few moments the remaining SWAT officers approached, grabbing the alien and hoisting him up onto his feet. They forced his hands behind his back and went about securing their prisoner and calling in a dropship to get them off of this rooftop.

Retsu turned to the hobbling Hanto. He shown with light for a few brief moments as his armor vanished away.

"You did good work today," Hanto told his partner. "We should go get some drinks. What do you say?"

"I don't think so," Retsu said.

"Ok, fine. After we write our reports," Hanto corrected.

Retsu shook his head, "Sorry, still no. I'm just not in the mood tonight," he told his friend as he walked away.

* * *

It was a bright and sunny day, warm, beautiful. The playground equipment set among the large sandbox was appealing to the myriad of children who were climbing on it and playing games amongst themselves.

Parents and guardians watched from benches, talking amongst each other while their children played without a care in the world. They hadn't noticed that one child went down the slide and looked at the small bit of woods sitting not far away.

He walked towards the woods and looked around a little. He could still be easily seen, but after a few more steps he was slowly lost from sight.

His mother finally noticed that she couldn't find him. She stood up, "Takeshi?" she called, "Takeshi?"

She hurried over to the equipment, "Where's Takeshi?" she questioned the other children, voice thick with fear and worry over her child. None of the kids could tell her.

"I think he might be playing hide and seek," one of them said.

"Takeshi!" she called out loudly, "This isn't funny! Where are you?"

Takeshi could hear and turned around, looking back towards the playground. But then he turned back to the beautiful flower that sat before him. Rising up from the stem was a beautiful golden array of petals with a pure white center that almost seemed to have an ethereal glow to it. He just stared at it, and then reached out.

He heard his mother call again. He looked back as his hand touched the stem. The next thing he knew, a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed his arm, causing the child to scream.

"Takeshi!" his mother called, rushing into the woods, "Takeshi? Takeshi!"

But there was no sign of the boy.

* * *

"Anything?" Retsu asked Hanto, looking at his partner, glad to see that his leg was healed at least. The graze must not have been that bad if he was walking after only a night.

"Nothing," Hanto said, pocketing a handheld scanner. "I've got nothing."

Retsu stood and looked around. "None of the kids can say where he entered at. Even if they could, there's no telling which way he went. No track imprints," he said.

"I don't think we'll get anywhere this way," Hanto said. "I think all we can do is distribute pictures and hope someone finds him."

"Maybe you're right," Retsu said, although he wasn't going to give up on this. As the two walked out of the woods, Retsu moved over to the mother, shaking his head sadly, "We will find him. I promise you that much. We will find your son."

* * *

"This isn't a case for Space Sheriffs," Qom told the two, "The normal police can handle it. It's just a missing person's case."

"It's a child!" Retsu told him.

"It's a missing person," Qom told him.

"I'm not going to quit," Retsu told him, "I'm going to keep investigating. That mother deserves the best, and deserves our help. A child of five years old is missing. We need to do everything in our power to find him and reunite him with his mother!"

Qom smashed his fist down on his desk, "No!" he barked, "I have given you an order! This isn't Space Sheriff business, and as such you will keep out of it! If you don't obey my orders, Taisho would be more than happy to have the Gavan armor."

Retsu wanted to tell Qom off, and tell him that the little bastard wasn't going to get his armor, but he kept his mouth shut. At least on that topic.

"Where is your son?" Retsu questioned.

"He's in the gym," Qom said, "Training, if you want to see how capable he is."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer," Retsu said, turning on his heel and walking out.

* * *

He watched as the young man threw a rapid series of punches into the hanging bag, dodging and weaving as he threw in combos, adding in the occasional knee strike, although that was looking sloppy.

If nothing else, the younger man was fast. He had a good approach, but he almost seemed to lack power in his blows. The swing of the bad wasn't as much as it should ideally be. Maybe if he made up for it by using less rapid shots he'd have more power.

Retsu walked towards him, still in full dress uniform, "Hey!" he called. They were fortunately alone in the gym, so there was no mistaking who that was being directed towards.

Taisho stopped and looked at Retsu, "What do you want?"

"Get in the ring," Retsu said, casting his dress coat aside, "We're going to spar."

In a minute Taisho was in the boxing ring, dressed and ready, while Retsu was in the more restrictive clothing of his dress uniform. He didn't care though; it would just make it much more satisfying when he won.

Taisho moved towards him. He was fast, ducking under Retsu's initial punch as he launched an uppercut into Retsu's side. Retsu stumbled back and moved forward with a jab, but Taisho dodged back, stepped forward and grabbed Retsu's wrist. He pulled the Sheriff in and threw a punch for Retsu's chest.

Retsu stumbled back and grabbed at his undershirt, pulling it off and going shirtless. The excessive bandaging was still present. Even with the amount of bandaging, it was evident to Taisho that it was the shoulder that was wounded.

Taisho moved forward and threw a kick at Retsu's side. Retsu caught his leg and twisted, knocking him off balance. He let go of the leg and moved forward, driving a single punch into Taisho's gut, knocking him flat on the ground.

The boy laid there, coughing and groaning for a bit before climbing back up to his feet, swaying a little.

"What, done already?" Retsu questioned him.

Taisho made no answer. He moved forward, throwing a rapid series of punches. Without a shirt to stop him, Retsu was able to use his arms to block or catch each of Taisho's moves.

And then one got through, and a fist connected with his bad shoulder.

Retsu let out a cry of pain and lowered his arms. Taisho attacked again and again, continuing to pound on his shoulder. Retsu threw his head back and cried out as he fell to a knee, and Taisho kept hitting the shoulder.

As another fist came, Retsu took aim and punched back, slamming his fist right into Taisho's gut. Taisho stumbled back, his fist unable to connect. He started to wheeze and breathe harder, coughing. He felt like he might puke.

Retsu moved forward with a shout, throwing a rapid series of punches into Taisho's chest. His combo wasn't as fast as Taisho's, but he had power. Taisho threw another punch, aiming for the gut.

It connected and did little to nothing. He wasn't going to have the strength to even attempt to stop Retsu.

Retsu grabbed him by the shoulders, taking grip of his shirt. He pulled Taisho in and twisted around, throwing him onto his back. He picked Taisho up by the collar and drove a single uppercut into his gut, dropping him.

"Retsu!" Qom's voice echoed around the room.

Retsu turned, seeing Qom standing in the doorway. How much had he seen?

"Two weeks suspension. No pay!" he shouted, "Be glad you aren't permanently being removed," is all Qom had to say before he turned and left, leaving his son and Retsu in the ring.

* * *

"You do realize how stupid that was, right?" Hanto questioned as Retsu was clearing some things he'd absolutely need from his office. It was only two weeks, but he still needed some things to take.

"It was," Retsu agreed, "I won't fight you on that. It felt good."

"I imagine," Hanto said, "You know, reasons like this are why I'm glad I don't have armor."

"I imagine," Retsu said, pocketing the last of the things he thought he might need at home. He walked out, Hanto falling in a step behind him. "I need your help. Will you help me on the case?" Retsu asked.

"It's not really a case for you," Hanto reminded, "Considering your status."

"Whatever. Will you help me?" he questioned.

Hanto shook his head, "I'm not risking my job. Missing kid or not."

"The Earth is your job," Retsu told him, "You're a Space Sheriff assigned to protect Earth. Your job isn't just busting drug lords and going on raids and firefights; it's everything. It's being in touch with common people, it's helping them in any way they need help in. It's protecting them from anything and everything. It's making sure a mother knows her child is safe."

"I'm sorry, but I won't defy Qom like this."

Retsu shook his head, "You don' remember what it's like to be an officer of the law. To serve and protect everyone, no matter how small. That's where your duty lies."

"No," Hanto said, "My duty is to Qom. He signs my paychecks, and he keeps me employed. We're not normal cops anymore. Look, I don't like the man any more than you do, I don't like having to answer to him, but I play the game. You need to learn how to play it, Retsu. Then you'd understand."

Retsu said nothing. He just walked on, disgusted.

* * *

Retsu had changed into his normal clothes before he walked home. At least this way he wouldn't have attention drawn to him. Besides, he figured that wearing the formal uniform was in bad taste during suspension.

Someone grabbed his arm from behind and then stepped up to be at his side. Mimi gave him a smile, "I'm so happy to see you!" she told him.

"No," he said, shrugging his arm free of her grip, "I'm not in the mood Mimi."

"What's wrong? Can't I just say hi?"

"It's never just that with you," he told her.

"You don't know unless you actually talk to me. You just try to ignore me. You see what I do as immoral, and you see yourself as so moral and upstanding. You try your hardest to ignore my existence, to ignore my job because you don't like it. That's not fair, Retsu."

He turned to her, "I have other problems right now!" he shouted at her. He wasn't angry at her; he was angry at Qom, at Hanto, at Taisho. He was angry at the job. He didn't mean to lash out at her, but he had.

He walked on, leaving a hurt and quiet Mimi behind. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry, but he didn't. He couldn't.

A vehicle stopped before him. People did use the normal streets for floating vehicles when they were near a location, or didn't want to deal with the traffic of the higher paths, but using the actual streets was still rather rare, at least in most areas. In places without skyscrapers, without proper sky maps and landmarks, the streets were still commonly used.

To see a vehicle just stopping here, in the middle of the road like this however, was extremely odd.

The door opened sideways. The vehicle was long, almost like a limousine. It was large and spacious inside, with curved seating all around, except where the door was.

A single alien sat facing towards the door, towards Retsu. He was a rhino-type alien with a gruff voice.

"Please, come in."

He wasn't as big as the dinosaur-like alien, but he was bigger than a normal human. A little taller, a bit bulkier. He had hard-looking flesh, with his chest fully exposed. He wore dark colored pants along with boots. His chest was dark gray, muscled, intimidating. His arms were thick, well-muscled as well.

He wore a silver necklace with a locket attached to the end of it. It seemed odd on such an intimidating figure.

His head was like that of an Earth rhino, but a bit smaller, with more defined features. He had the single horn rising off of his nose, with his mouth right below. He had two small tusks protruding from the edges of his mouth, along with two longer horns coming out of his forehead. He had crimson eyes, a trademark of his species, which just made him all the more unsettling.

"I'd rather not," Retsu told him.

"I must insist," the alien said. Retsu glanced back to see a man in a suit with a gun at Mimi's head.

"If you don't hurt her," Retsu said, climbing into the vehicle. He looked back, seeing the man release Mimi as the door closed. Mimi stood and watched before being smart enough to flee for her own safety. The man ran around, getting into the driver's seat of the vehicle.

"The gun was just a precaution," the alien assured Retsu, "We had no intention of harming her. Or whoever may have been with you."

"What did you want me for?" Retsu questioned. He kept his eyes on the alien instead of looking around at all. He wanted to know his surroundings, but he had no trust in this alien.

The alien stared at him with those unsettling red eyes for a few moments before telling him.

"My son was abducted. A few of my workers children were also abducted."

Retsu sat, not showing anything as he was told. His heart ached for those people, and even for this alien. It could have been a lie, but even through that thick voice Retsu could detect the pain of a parent separated from child.

It was the pain his own voice had held for so long.

"What's your name?" Retsu asked him.

The alien didn't answer.

Retsu had a smirk of contempt, "I'd rather not know anyway," he muttered, "I can guess, though." He took a breath, "Is there anything you can tell me about what happened?"

"My son was playing with other children, and then he stepped away into the woods. The next thing anyone knew, he was gone. Most of my workers have the same story. Sometimes a kid saw them go off into the woods, or around the corner, or wherever it may have been. But never anything else."

"No traces, I imagine," Retsu muttered.

"No traces," the alien responded, although that had been more rhetorical, "I've had it looked into."

Retsu looked at him, "If you have people, why tell me all of this?"

"Because you're a Space Sheriff, and I know your reputation. You'll want to do what you can."

Retsu nodded, "Don't worry. I was already starting to investigate, whether I'm on duty or not. As a parent myself, I swear this to you. I'll solve this."

Soon the vehicle pulled over after circling the block a few times. It set down, allowing Retsu to climb out. "We'll be in touch," the alien told him, "Thank you."

The door closed and the vehicle lifted upwards and took off, leaving Retsu alone in the street. He continued on his path home, alone.

* * *

Retsu activated his computer, trying to get in touch with his daughter. An older woman appeared instead, "Why are you calling at such a late hour?" her shrill voice questioned.

"I'm sorry," Retsu told her, "I was just hoping I could see my daughter."

"She's in bed, just like everyone else. Just like I was." She sounded very bitter at the last part.

"Oh," Retsu said, "Well…can you tell me if she's ok?"

"Of course she is," the woman told Retsu. "Call back in about six hours." Without waiting for a response the woman ended the connection.

Retsu sighed, ending it on his end as well.

* * *

Retsu spent the next hours in the streets, distributing pictures and talking to people. He went to the people who were present in the parks, but he came up empty everywhere he went. Nobody had seen the children, and nobody who was there had anything to tell him.

"Maybe it's drug related…," Retsu muttered to himself. He hadn't found any dealers, though. He wasn't sure how, but the drug problem was too rampant, or had been rampant. It was a longshot, though.

In his vain attempts to find any dealers, he found a few junkies in an alley. The three of them looked terrible. The Sheriffs were keeping the drugs off the streets, after all. These men needed it, and might very well be dying without it at this point.

"I need a dealer," Retsu told them.

"There ain't any dealers!" one said.

"Those bastard Sheriffs got them all…," another said.

The other one got up, pulling a switchblade knife, "Give us whatever money you have…" To buy what, Retsu didn't know. Without dealers, what good was money to them? Food? Shelter? He doubted it.

The other two joined it, rising. One had a brick, the other found a pipe. They approached Retsu, who stood his ground.

The one with the knife lunged for him. He grabbed the man's wrist and pulled him forward. He grabbed a fistful of his shirt in his other hand and pushed him at the man with the brick. The brick fell, landing on the man and injuring him with a head wound.

Retsu just barely dodged the pipe. He rammed his right elbow into the man's face and drove him into the wall. He span around, kicking the last man back. His balance was terrible, causing him to fall.

Retsu walked out of the alley and towards home. He couldn't do anything else today; he was out of leads for now, and running out of daylight. As he walked he reached up to his left shoulder, feeling that his shirt was damp with blood. The wound opened. It must not have properly healed.

"Do you need some help with that?" Mimi asked him, slowly walking up to him.

He looked at her, surprised to see her here, "Um…I'd appreciate it. And I'm sorry about before."

"It's ok," she said, taking him gently by the hand, "Come on."

* * *

Later, at his apartment, Mimi had helped him bandage up his shoulder and control the bleeding. With fresh bandages applied, Retsu pulled on a new shirt.

"It's just that this investigation involves missing or abducted children. I thought of Jya, and well…it all just got to me. That, and my suspension, seeing you just wasn't good at the time."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Mimi assured him. "I understand completely." She paused, "I'm terrified by the thought of it," she said softly, pausing a little longer, "I…I had a daughter."

Retsu looked at her in question, in shock, "Are you serious?"

She nodded, "I am," she said, "A client got me pregnant. I decided to have the child, but…she was stillborn…," she said very quietly. Tears filled her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. She turned away, not letting Retsu see that, "That's…that's the main reason I left being a prostitute."

"You left?" he asked her.

"I've been out for months," Mimi admitted, "I'm working as a secretary at an office complex. It's not much, but it's a start."

He nodded, "Maybe we could have something in the future," he said absently, knowing the truth, "I'm not making any promises, though."

She just turned her head to look at him, giving him a nod of understanding.

* * *

During Retsu's investigation the next morning he saw a familiar figure sitting on one of the park benches. He pushed his hands into his pockets and walked over, setting himself down beside the man and crossing one leg over the other.

"Hanto," he said, "I'm sure you're not here investigating."

"I'm here to see you," Hanto said, looking at his partner as he crossed his arms.

"Why not call?" he questioned.

"Because I've got nothing going on right now," he said, "I knew you'd be here, so I figured this would work just as well."

"Ok," Retsu said, "Well, what do you have to say?"

"Your armor is safe," Hanto said. Those were words of great relief for Retsu. He needed to keep the Gavan armor; he needed to remain an armored Sheriff, someone who could make a greater difference. It was also something for his daughter to admire.

"That's just fantastic," Retsu said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"They can't touch it. Policy," Hanto explained, "You weren't fired, so it's still yours. But don't do anything stupid," he warned, "Qom can pretty much fire you for anything like that you'll do within the next two months of being brought back to work."

"I'll be good, I promise," Retsu said, although the way he said it made it sound like he was just screwing around and joking.

Hanto pushed himself up, "Play the game," he told Retsu.

Retsu drew his hands from his pockets and pushed himself up as well, swinging his leg off of his other one, "I refuse," he said, "You can play the game of office politics all you want, but I just want to do my job."

There was a moment of uneasy silence between them. Retsu broke it right away, hoping to just get away from this topic before Hanto might say anything more, "Anything about the missing children? Any updates?"

"Nothing. The Sheriffs aren't working it; it's purely police," Hanto told him.

Retsu nodded, "That's too bad…"

"Retsu just let it go. Let the police do their job and just focus on ours. It's what's best," Hanto told him before walking off.

"I can't…," Retsu muttered, "Because I can only think of Jya going missing whenever I think about this…"

* * *

Over a week later, Retsu had returned once more to the park. He did this every day, but he never got anywhere. He was running out of hope of finding anything of use. He didn't even know why he returned here day after day. Maybe he was hoping to catch it happening and be able to save a child. Maybe he was hoping a new witness would turn up.

But he knew that all of it was unlikely, and he was at a dead end. This was all that he could do.

He set himself down on a bench that nobody else was sitting at. There were children at play, and parents nearby, but everyone looked a little tense. The children were mostly oblivious, but the parents kept stern, watchful eyes on their precious children. They knew about the disappearances, and didn't want to lose a child.

Retsu leaned forward and watched. Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the children get off of the playground equipment and walk towards a small wooded area. Retsu shot to his feet and watched for a moment as the child vanished into the woods.

"Hey!" Retsu shouted, running as fast as he could. He leapt the small barrier that separated the cement walkway from the sandbox that held the equipment, running through the sand before jumping over the other barrier, bearing down on the woods.

He ran between the trees and looked around, "Hey! Kid!" he shouted as loud as he could. Parents were now coming over, realizing that one of the children had wandered off. From their vantage point they couldn't see the child had left, and the woman who was obviously the mother was breaking down over that.

Retsu walked around, kicking at the dirt, "Damn it!" he shouted, "No!"

He stopped as he looked down, and crouched. There was something here.

It was a flower petal; brilliant gold in color, unlike anything else that would grow here.

When the police came within the next ten minutes, Retsu had very little information to give them. He gave them the petal and was sent on his way. He had no authority to be here, after all.

But tomorrow he would be back at work, and he could actually do something. Tomorrow he would have access to the police records.

* * *

"I lack the resources at the moment to look into it any further," Retsu told the rhino alien whom had recruited him to look into this case, "Tomorrow I'll be reinstated to my full position. I'll be able to find out what that petal had and hopefully be able to trace the information back to the children, and whoever is taking them."

The alien nodded once, "My people have turned up nothing as of yet. You're my best hope."

Retsu nodded, "I don't mind you investigating it with your people. Just please, don't cross any legal lines. I don't want to have to come to you in a legal capacity."

The alien just nodded and gave a single grunt. Retsu opened the door of the car and stepped out, watching as the alien's craft flew off into the upper streets again.

* * *

"Jya, I just want you to know how much I love you," Retsu told his daughter. The room was black, with only the glow of his monitor providing light. His daughter was on screen, and he had a few more minutes with her before she'd have to go to class.

"You've told me that a lot today," she told him.

He nodded, "And I'll say it again. I love you."

"Did something happen?" she asked him.

"No," he lied.

"Ok, because it's weird."

"I know," he said, "I just want to make sure you know, though."

"Of course I know! You're my daddy!"

He smiled, his heart feeling a lot better after hearing her say it, even if he already knew that.

"How's school?" he asked.

"It's fun! I've gotten to draw a lot more! I've been playing with blocks and building little castles and houses…"

She went on about her day, and about the freedom and sheer joy a child could experience in school. Retsu remembered it fondly, but listened with rapt attention to his daughter telling it. He hoped she enjoyed her time, even if she didn't have family there.

"I'm so proud of you," he told her when he had about a minute left before she'd have to go to class, "I just want you to know that. I miss you so much."

She nodded, "When can we be together again?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he admitted, his eyes wandering to the last picture he had of himself, Jya, and his wife.

"I miss mommy," she said, although his eyes remained on the picture instead of the screen.

"I know," he said softly, tears rolling down his cheeks. He was glad she couldn't see too much of him now, "So do I."

When the communication ended, he rolled his chair back and stood up, walking into the bedroom. He sat on the edge of his bed, joining Mimi who sat with two glasses of wine in hand. She held one out to him and crossed her legs, looking at him, "What's wrong?" she asked him softly.

He took a sip of his wine, "I don't want to talk about it," he said softly. His eyes made it evident that he had been crying, even if only a little. She just kept looking at him, at his eyes. "I don't want to talk about my wife or daughter…not with you."

She didn't take it as an insult. He hadn't meant it as one, she knew that. She just nodded in complete understanding. She knew where he was coming from, and would probably have said the same in his position.

She took a sip of her wine and lowered the glass, "Retsu…you'll never have to apologize when you say things like that to me. I understand the pain of loss. It's just like how I won't talk about my daughter…about the hopes and dreams I held for her."

He lifted his glass, "Painful memories…"

She lifted hers, "Indeed."

* * *

Retsu groggily found himself at his door, opening it a little. He saw Hanto standing there, dressed in full uniform. "You're reinstated," he told Retsu, "Be at work in an hour, or Qom will probably have you fired."

He rubbed his head, "Right, right…you going in early?"

Hanto flashed him a roguish smile, "The game," he said simply.

Retsu just grunted and closed the door, walking back into his bedroom and tossing off his underwear so he could step into the shower.

Within a few minutes he was dressed in full uniform and looked at the bed, at the still sleeping Mimi. He trusted her enough to leave her alone in his apartment. Going in early wouldn't hurt, so he left her.

* * *

His day was boring. He was at his desk all day, no actual work. Qom had given him paperwork to do, mostly things to read over and sign. Most of the time he didn't have to read it, but there were a few seemingly important documents among them, so he figured reading was his best bet so he didn't make a big mistake.

As he signed off on the tenth document of the morning his phone rang. He picked it up, thankful for the distraction from paperwork.

"Ichijouji, Retsu," he said.

He waited a little, listening, and then spoke again, "Thank you. I'll be there as soon as I can be."

He hung up and went back into the paperwork. The results on the petal had come in, but he had to finish up these next documents. He had about seven left, and figured he'd better deal with them before going, so he wouldn't be fired.

He wanted to just get up and go now, but he needed his position to be able to help. He couldn't risk his position by just going off to do what he knew was right.

He signed off of one document and stopped. He was just like Hanto, wasn't he? Not doing what was right, but doing what he was supposed to by decree of superiors. He started to flip to the last pages of each packet of documents, just signing off without reading. He had been ordered to read and sign off with one hundred percent competence on what he was signing off on.

Screw it. He finished signing and took the pile of packets to Qom's office, dropping them on his desk.

"Done?" Qom questioned.

"I'm a fast reader," he said.

Qom picked a random one from the middle, "What's this one about? D15M?"

It was fortunately one of the ones Retsu had indeed read, "It's a report from Sawamura, Dai about the need for additional energy cells to be sent from the Tokyo office to support his mission on the Magma Planet. The colony is in desperate need of power, or else they risk sinking into the lava within the next week or so. Then he goes off into statistics drawn up by one of the scientists."

Qom shoved the packet back into the pile, not saying a word.

Retsu could have just walked out at that moment and said nothing. He was at the door, but then he turned and looked at Qom, deciding he had to say it.

"I'm going to investigate the missing children," he told Qom, "They're being abducted by something. I'm going to find out what and stop it."

"No," Qom said, not looking up from his desk.

"We have evidence now!" Retsu told him, "There's no reason for me not to look into this! I can have leads! I can actually make good use of the time!"

"No!" Qom told him more sternly this time.

"I have no cases. Hanto has no cases. It's a slow time for us right now. I'm going to go look into this, because this is a case," he told Qom, hurrying out before Qom could yell at him and give him a punishment.

He knew this would come back to bite him later, but he was doing the right thing.

* * *

Retsu stood outside of the police headquarters, walking down the large flight of stairs down to the sidewalk. He had a packet in hand, a report of the findings of the petal. He had managed to allocate them some resources with a phonecall, getting them the ability to test the petal almost immediately. Even if he wasn't on the job at the time, he still had favors to call in.

"The petal is from an alien biology," Retsu muttered, sitting at a terminal in another government building. He set the document down and accessed the computer with his personnel code. He began to look into the specific biology, finding that a few aliens of a floral species resided in the area.

"Three of them," he said, rising and heading off.

* * *

The first two had proven to be wastes of time. Neither had done it, that was obvious from only a few minutes of time spent with them. One was a government official who had alibis the whole time, and video to back it up. The other was a priest, and he had been holding congregations at the times.

This last one was a scientist. Assuming he was the culprit, Retsu didn't like the sound of his profession in association with abducted children.

If he wasn't the culprit, they were out of clues to follow.

Retsu walked up to the front door of the medium sized house and was about to knock, but he stopped. He drew his sidearm and moved around to the back of the house. He pressed himself against the door, keeping himself under the window. He waited, listening, and then he pushed himself through, swinging the door open. He lifted his weapon as he looked around the kitchen.

Vines came out of the hallway, wrapping themselves around his arms and torso. He wasn't able to fire now, and even dropped his weapon as the vines constricted. He was being pulled towards the opening, where a spear emerged, coming right for him.

Retsu twisted, cutting one of the vines on the spearhead. He pulled his arm free and grabbed the shaft of the weapon, pulling on it to bring the alien forward, and then kicked him back.

The alien was mostly green. He had green legs that ended in individual toes with slightly pointed nails, rising up to green legs with a vine-like ridge rising out and circling him. From his waist on down a little he had what appeared to be a skirt of leaves, but they were natural, not clothing of some sort. His torso was fully green, with some leaves and some of the vine-like protrusions around him.

Around his neck he had a large flower emerging, hanging down his chest and shoulders a little. The flower had golden petals that were rather large; the same as the petal found in the woods, only larger.

His arms were green, covered in the same vine-like wrappings as his legs were. His hands ended in slightly pointed nails, just like his feet did.

His head looked like a squid. It was elongated, with what looked like tentacles hanging down from his mouth. They could have been like vines, but they looked more like tentacles to Retsu, which made it a bit unsettling. He had two glowing pinkish colored eyes, slanted back, keeping focused on Retsu.

The vines that the Sheriff was ensnared in came from the alien's wrists, Retsu noticed. That was just one power of these beings.

Retsu managed to crouch down and take grip of his gun. He fired two shots into the alien's chest, knocking him back. The vines went slack, allowing Retsu to pull himself free and keep firing on the alien, the laser bolts drawing blood.

The alien backed away, keeping a grip on his spear. He fled from Retsu, turning a corner before Retsu could get another shot off.

Now, this could be self-defense. Retsu hadn't announced his identity, and the alien may have thought him an attacker. However, it was as though the alien had been waiting for him. Indeed, the entire situation just felt off, which was why he had gone around to the back in the first place.

Retsu pursued the alien, taking the corner. He looked down a flight of stairs, running into the basement in pursuit of the alien. He lifted his weapon as he cleared the last stair, looking around, and then he saw them.

The children were chained to the walls. Various scientific and medical equipment lined the walls and sat on tables near the children. They were being filled with various chemicals and liquids from the equipment; all of them were unconscious.

The alien wasn't in sight, so Retsu hurried to the closest boy and began to draw the IV from his arm when he was grabbed by the shoulders and thrown to the ground. The alien stomped on his chest after that.

"You won't destroy my research!" he shouted in a shrill voice.

Retsu grabbed his foot the next time it came down and pushed up, offsetting the alien's balance. He came up to his feet, lifting his weapon and taking aim for the head, "Research? These are children!" he shouted in outrage.

"They're my research," the alien hissed, picking up his spear from against the wall, "I won't have you ending it! Not after all of my hard work!"

The alien rushed Retsu, swinging high. He ducked and grabbed the alien around the torso, driving his knee into the alien's chest before releasing him as he fell back. The spear came for Retsu, being thrown at him for his chest. Retsu dodged, letting it hit the ground harmlessly.

The alien tackled Retsu into the wall, slamming him into it three times before grabbing at his head, intending to slam the head directly into the wall. Retsu kneed him back again and then, with the new space, landed a solid kick on his chest to knock him away.

The alien tackled him to the ground and started to punch him repeatedly in the head. Retsu's vision started to get blurry as he landed a few weaker punches into the alien's chest. It was useless.

Retsu lifted his firearm. He jammed the barrel into the alien's chest and fired once.

White blood ran out of the wound, covering Retsu's weapon and hand. The alien rolled off of him and grabbed the wound with both hands before hurrying up the stairs, attempting to escape.

"Hey!" Retsu shouted, rubbing his head with his free hand as he ran up the stairs in pursuit.

As soon as Retsu came up the stairs and took the corner, he saw another figure. The rhino alien was here, a long knife in hand. The blade was currently in the plant alien's head.

Retsu, on instinct, drew his weapon up and aimed for the rhino alien, "What did you do that for?" Retsu demanded.

He still gripped the knife as he glanced to Retsu, even though this alien was already clearly dead, "He abducted my son."

"He did, but you had no right to murder him!" Retsu shouted, "It's not the lawful way!" "Lawful?" the alien demanded, letting out a grunt, "My SON was involved! My child was taken from me! I wasn't the only one to lose a child to this…this monster! I did what I had to; for myself, and for the other parents. Wouldn't you have done the same? What sort of monster abducts children? He deserved to die!"

Retsu didn't say anything. He feared that if he opened his mouth he'd just end up in agreement. He couldn't say that.

Police sirens were soon heard. Retsu had informed them of his intentions, and it seemed like they were finally catching up. Retsu's lack of report also would have informed them that this was indeed the location.

"The house is surrounded," Retsu told the alien, "Just give up. Please. I know you're a good man." He actually doubted it very much. He knew this man was a criminal of some sort, but still, he cared so much for his son, he had to have some good in him.

The rhino drew the knife free, letting the plant alien fall. He didn't lift the weapon, he just stared at Retsu.

"I'm sorry," he hissed, rushing towards Retsu, head lowered, ready to impale one way or the other.

Retsu fired on him twice. One shot hit his chest while the other hit his forehead. Neither did anything; this alien's rough skin was strong enough to take the laser bolts of his pistol.

Retsu rolled, but his side was cut by the knife. It was a low cut, and only left a small red line on his skin. He had been lucky to not take a more serious injury out of it.

"Fine," Retsu told him, "I didn't want to do this."

He threw his hand up and looked at the ceiling. It wouldn't matter; it wouldn't stop what was about to happen.

"Jouchaku!"

In a flash, the Granium particles passed through the roof and ceiling, covering Retsu's body. The Gavan armor appeared as sleek and shiny as ever, but the alien rushed him immediately, not impressed in the least.

He swung his knife back and down. Retsu caught the wrist with his right hand and balled his left into a fist. The alien pivoted, ramming his free fist into Retsu's right side, knocking him off balance so he could tear his knife arm free. He stepped past Retsu and slammed his right fist back, right into Retsu's back. Retsu cried out and stumbled forward from the alien's sheer strength.

Retsu turned around in time to take a slash across the chest. The alien was very strong, and his knife was too. He swung two more times, getting two more large gashes into Retsu's armor before punching him in the upper chest with his free hand, knocking Retsu flat onto his back.

"Is this all you can muster, Space Sheriff?" he shouted, flipping his blade down, ready to end it.

Retsu flipped his weapon from his holster and fired once. The shot was a bit stronger than his duty pistol, staggering his foe back. Retsu pulled himself up and jumped forward, using a punch down on the enemy's head, knocking him through the wall and into another room.

The alien pushed himself off of the next wall and rushed Retsu, throwing a punch into his gut. He doubled over, taking then an uppercut to the face. He staggered back, looking down in time to see the knife being driven for his chest.

He held both of his hands out a little ways from his body, producing a blue energy barrier between them. It stopped the knife and gave Retsu time to recover his senses. He dropped the barrier and threw a punch into his foe's face, staggering him.

He waved his hand in front of the belt-like light on his waist, summoning his sword. He took grip of it and swung once, energizing the blade on the swing, slicing the blade off of the knife.

"Just surrender!" Retsu told him, "You'll be sent to prison, but you'll live!"

The alien just shouted and charged him, lowering his head, ready to impale Retsu through the armor.

Retsu gripped his hilt in both hands and twisted his body to the side. He made his stance wide, and he swung. His blade connected with the center of his foe's doubled over body, slicing him almost cleanly in half.

Retsu couldn't look at the bloodied body as he deactivated his blade. He just looked ahead instead of looking down.

"You were a good father," is all he could say. His heart ached, "Why…why did you attack me? Why…?"

* * *

"It was my first on the job kill," Retsu told Hanto as they walked out of the office.

"It gets easier with time," Hanto told Retsu, "I still remember my first kill, and how I felt. You still feel after, but not as badly in any subsequent kills." He looked to Retsu, "Join me for a drink."

Retsu nodded, "Ok."

* * *

As they sat at the bar, drinking, they also talked about the job. "How can we have nothing to do?" Hanto questioned, "We're Space Sheriffs! There has to be something! Even some boring as hell space traffic violations to go take care of…"

"I know," Retsu smiled, taking another drink, "But I'm glad we didn't. I had time to look into this case."

"You think you'll get fired?" Hanto questioned.

Retsu shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I can only hope I don't."

"That's what everyone hopes whenever they screw up," Hanto said, "Difference is that you screwed up a lot in a short period of time."

"I'll be fine," Retsu said.

"And how do you know that?" Hanto questioned.

"I'm a pretty damn good at my job," Retsu responded, laughing and taking another drink.

Hanto joined him, taking another drink as well. They both put their glasses back onto the bar and looked ahead for a bit.

"What were those injections for?" Hanto questioned Retsu, "That the kids were getting, mean."

"I don't know," Retsu admitted, "I was just focused on saving them. Besides, I'm not exactly a science or medicine guy. All I know that is the scientist," he couldn't remember the name, "said it was 'research'."

Hanto shrugged, "Well, they're being checked at the hospital at the moment. I guess we'll know by morning. Though the hospital has said they'll all be ok."

Retsu didn't say anything. Hanto looked at him, causing Retsu to look back, "I'm happy that they'll be ok," Retsu said, "But…it wasn't his fault."

"Don't overthink killing him," Hanto said.

"It's not that," Retsu said, "It's…he was just a concerned parent. I can see where he was coming from as a parent myself."

Hanto nodded, "Yeah…I think you're right. He didn't deserve to die; he deserved an arrest for the things he probably did that we can't prove, though. But he should have kept out of it, if he's as good a parent as you say he seemed to be."

Retsu nodded, "He was so concerned for his son… If…if it had been Jya, and I was in his position, I'd have killed too…"

Hanto nodded, "A parent surely would do anything for their child."

"And now his child has no father…," Retsu muttered, "He didn't deserve to die…he…he was just looking out for his own flesh and blood…"

Hanto clapped him on the back, "He probably did a lot of bad things. Maybe this is retribution catching up with him." He said it to try to make Retsu feel better, but he came off as cold and callous.

Retsu said and did nothing.

* * *

A few hours later, at midnight, Hanto walked alone through the hallways of headquarters, dressed in dark clothing. Not his uniform, just more casual wear that he'd often wear when on assignment.

He knocked quietly on Qom's door and stepped inside. Qom was still sitting at his desk and looked up. There was a lone lamp lighting Qom's desk and the paperwork sitting on it.

After a few moments of reading over the top paper, Qom looked up at Hanto, "What you did paid off," he informed the Sheriff.

Hanto smiled. Wonderful; he was actually happy, "How much did it pay off?"

"You'll see soon enough," is all Qom told him.

* * *

The next morning as Mimi walked into Retsu's apartment she found him lying on the couch. He looked like he had had a rough night sleeping there, and wondered if something had happened at work.

She closed the door and sat down at the foot of the couch, "Retsu?" she asked him.

He groaned and rolled over a little, not that there was much room for him to roll on the couch. He almost fell, but managed to wake up and catch himself. "Mimi?" he asked groggily.

"Yeah, it's me," she told him, setting her purse down on the table in front of the couch as she helped him sit up, "Rough night?"

"You could say that," he said, rubbing his head.

"Hung over?"

He nodded.

"I'll make you coffee," she said, standing up and going into his small kitchen.

He glanced over at her, and looked to her purse. He didn't know why – maybe it was part of his intuition as an officer of the law – but he opened her purse and took a look inside.

He was glad he had, but at the same time he wished he hadn't.

"Mimi?" he questioned, his voice sounding sterner.

"What is it?" she asked, looking over to him. Her face changed expressions from her usual more or less joyful expression to one of shock, and one of pain.

"Why do you have this?" he demanded, holding a bag of white powder. The same drug that he had spent months fighting to get off of the streets of Japan.

"I…"

He threw it across the room, "Do you know what those drugs do to you?" he shouted at her, "There's a reason that the distributors are at the top of our list to take down! Those drugs killed my wife! Blen-Tak and those other dealers made all of their money on a mountain of drug addicts and corpses. You should know that!"

"I do know that," she told him, softly, her voice pained, "But…"

"But what? I thought you were trying to do better with your life."

"It's hard!" she told him, "The drugs take the edge off of things! I hate working in that office, but the drugs make it tolerable!"

"That's life!" he shouted. "Life isn't easy. Life isn't always tolerable, but we have to go through it all the same. Do you know how hard my job is? I had to kill someone yesterday, but he was a good man! A father! Do you know how much I hurt? I went out drinking after, sure, but a drink is completely different from that! My emotions aren't locked up, torn away. I'm still who I was!"

"And I'm still who I always was!" she told him, "My emotions aren't being repressed by the drugs! It's only giving me the sense of high that I need to move on! That's no different from drinking!"

He shook his head furiously, "Get out…," he hissed.

"What?"

"I said get out!" he shouted.

Mimi stared at him in the silence and glanced at the bag of drugs. She ignored it and walked to her purse, snatching it up off of the table. She didn't look at Retsu or say another word as she walked out, gently closing the door behind her.

Retsu collapsed onto the couch and looked up at the ceiling. He did his best to avoid thinking about what happened and glanced to a picture of his daughter. His eyes went to the drugs lying on the floor, and he sighed.

* * *

Retsu had spent the hours leading to darkness out in the streets, undercover. Someone was still supplying drugs, or else Mimi had a stockpile somewhere, or something. He assumed there were still dealers; he didn't want to think Mimi was stockpiling illegal substances.

He returned to his apartment and saw that he had missed a call. He walked over to the phone and pressed the button to play the message.

"Ichijouji, Retsu. This is Doctor Shirakura; we have a young woman named Nakase, Mimi in our care. You were her emergency contact. Please come in as soon as possible. The address is…"

Retsu didn't know what this was about. He didn't wait for any more information and ran out after hearing the address.

* * *

"She's in a coma," the doctor told him. He looked down at Mimi lying in the hospital bed, unable to say anything to the doctor. "We believe she overdosed. She's lucky to be alive."

"Where did you find her?" he asked hoarsely.

"She was in the street and collapsed. Someone called it in and an ambulance picked her up," the doctor responded.

"Will she…"

"We don't know," he told Retsu, "We can hope and pray that she'll recover, but honestly? We don't know."

Retsu just nodded absently and sat down beside the bed, staring at Mimi, lying unconscious before him. It broke his heart.

"I'll leave you," Shirakura said, giving him space and some time alone.

* * *

"We have another drug problem," Retsu told Qom, "Someone is still selling. We need to find them now and take care of them!"

"I'm aware," Qom said, "Hanto is on the case, working it solo."

"I want to help him," Retsu said insistently, "Let me join him."

"No," Qom said, shaking his head, "And before you say anything, answer me this. Why do you care? Why do you want to be on this? You can retire soon, you know. You've been with us how long? A decade or so? You can just take my answer, go to your desk, and wait out the time. You'll be able to move to a more relaxed planet soon, move up to Commander, or something else. Why do you care so much about the field work when nobody else does?"

"The field work is what I signed up for," Retsu told him, "I joined the police, and the Union to help people. I want to protect and serve. I want to be out there, helping people. Someone I know overdosed on these drugs and is comatose in the hospital; please, let me help. Please, where is Hanto? I want to join him."

Qom shook his head, not saying another word. Retsu stood there for a few more moments before turning and walking out of the office. He took out his phone and dialed Hanto, but received no answer.

* * *

Retsu spent his next few days doing desk work. He knew Qom was watching, and wanted to make it look like he was taking the man's advice and just staying out of things in an attempt to be done with the hard work. But that left one curiosity; Hanto had been on the job longer, yet was still doing this field work. Retsu was sure that Qom didn't question Hanto.

Why had Qom given this assignment to Hanto? Why not a younger Sheriff? Things weren't quite adding up based on what Qom had been talking about. Or maybe he just didn't like Retsu.

Both, probably.

During the nights Retsu was out on the streets, searching for any dealers. As usual he was turning up nothing, but this night was different. He finally found someone.

The man was clothed in a large black cloak, hiding all features. The cowl hid his face in shadow, leaving him an enigma.

Retsu was hooded, his features hidden as well. He had something else though; money held out towards the man.

"I want some drugs," Retsu told him.

The man opened his cloak a little, reaching in for a bag. As soon as he did, Retsu drew his hand back in and drew his sidearm with his free right hand, lifting it as he lifted his badge from under his shirt with his left hand, as soon as he dropped the money.

"You're under arrest."

The man turned and ran. He started to weave, but Retsu didn't fire regardless. Retsu chased after him, dodging around trash in the alley and ducking into the next alley the man took. He ran as fast as he could, but this man was faster.

Retsu gained some distance and reached out, grabbing the back of his cloak. He tugged, but the other man span around and threw his arm up, wrapping it around Retsu's outreaching arm to break his grip with the sharp twist. He kneed Retsu once and knocked him back.

The dealer moved towards him and jumped to the side. He kicked off of the wall and came down with a punch to the face, knocking Retsu onto his back.

As soon as the man took off again, Retsu took no more chances. He lifted his weapon and fired once, just missing.

The other man stopped and turned, lifting a gun of his own from his cloak. Retsu rolled behind a large dumpster to avoid the man's shot. He waited and glanced around, only to see the man on the move.

Retsu ran after him, out of the alley and into the street. The dealer had grabbed a man as he was exiting his vehicle and threw him to the ground. The dealer slid into the vehicle and took off.

Retsu held his badge up to another man, "I need your vehicle! I'm a Space Sheriff!"

The man didn't object too much. Retsu ignored him and took his car, going up in pursuit of the dealer.

The dealer drove into oncoming traffic and zipped around buildings, making tight and sharp turns to try to slam Retsu into a building. Retsu raised his craft instead, floating over most things so he could just look down on the dealer. This was easier for him, and gave him an edge.

As soon as he could, Retsu drove his vehicle downwards, slamming it into the side of the dealer's. The dealer was forced to crash land on a large rooftop and bail out of the vehicle while Retsu landed next to his craft and jumped out, aiming for the man.

"Stop!" Retsu ordered.

The dealer stopped and stood still. He turned slowly to face Retsu, hands down at his sides, gun still in his right hand.

"Drop it!" Retsu ordered.

He did as he was told, then he slowly raised his hands up. Once they were at the cowl, however, he cast it back to reveal his face.

"Good chase," Hanto said.

"H-Hanto?" Retsu stuttered in shock. "You?"

"You should put that down. It makes me feel uneasy," he told Retsu, "I'll explain everything."

"No," Retsu said, keeping it on Hanto.

"Fair enough," he said, dodging to the side unexpectedly. By the time Retsu retrained his weapon, Hanto had another firearm in hand, trained on Retsu. "I feel better this way."

Retsu shook his head, "I don't."

"Of course not," Hanto said.

Retsu clenched his teeth and then barked out an order, "What's going on here? Talk to me Hanto! What's going on?"

"During the Blen-Tak investigation, and the drug raid on the penthouse, we found a large cache of drugs both times. Drugs that weren't immediately apparent. It took some time, but we found them. I've been selling those drugs on the side, since I found them and never reported it. I've been funneling the money back into the department, not lining my own pockets, by the way."

Retsu shook his head furiously, "I'll go to Qom with this!"

"Go ahead," Hanto told him, "Qom already knows. He approved it. Most of the department knows about this, and support it. You should support it as well. We're not hurting anyone; we're finding drug addicts, supporting their habits, and getting their information for later. With their money we support the departments so that we can do more in the future to bring down crime. We're doing a good thing here."

"No you're not!" Retsu shouted at him, "How can you think that this is good? I bet you sold to Mimi, didn't you?"

"I did."

"She overdosed! She's in the hospital right now in a coma and she might not wake up!"

"Is it just about her?" Hanto questioned.

"No. This is just wrong! We swore to uphold the law, but that's not what you're doing!"

"I'm upholding enough of the law. I've been on this job for over a decade, I've saved so many lives. I can do this, Retsu. I've earned some leeway."

"There's no such thing as leeway for us, Hanto. We have to uphold all of the law, or none of it."

Hanto didn't respond to that. He did say something else entirely.

"You know, Mimi didn't overdose, most likely. If anything, she found some of the bad drugs. It's not all good, high quality stuff that we sell. Some of it is pretty bad; unpurified. We sell it anyway, since we don't have the methods to fix it. Those had to be weeded out; she just got the short end of the stick. She just had to take some of the trash."

"Shut up!" he shouted.

"It's just business," Hanto said.

"It's life and death!" Retsu shouted, drawing his left hand up onto his gun, taking better aim.

After a few moments of silence, Hanto glanced to his gun. He lowered it, "I surrender," he told Retsu.

"What are you doing?" Retsu demanded, slowly moving closer, but he didn't dare lower his gun.

"I'm surrendering," he told Retsu, "I…I'm sorry. I knew a woman who died because of these drugs. Not because of bad drugs, but because of an overdose. I know how you must feel right now. And…and Qom. Qom made me do all of this. Please Retsu, arrest me. I want to stand trial for these crimes, and bring Qom and all of those other bastards down too."

"Turn around," Retsu told him.

He dropped his gun and turned around. Retsu lowered his left hand to retrieve handcuffs from the back of his belt. "Hands out to your sides."

Hanto lifted his arms out to his sides. Retsu reached out for his left wrist, ready to cuff it. Hanto span around, using one hand to knock Retsu's gun off center and used his other to slam his fist into Retsu's wounded left shoulder.

Retsu screamed out and stumbled back. Hanto pressed forward, disarming Retsu and flipping the gun around on him. He reached around with his foot until he found his second dropped firearm. He crouched down and took it into his free hand. He walked towards Retsu, only having his right gun up, since it would be impractical to shoot with both at once.

"You're such an idiot," Hanto told Retsu, "You'll be much better off dead."

Retsu jumped for him, grabbing Hanto's arms. Hanto couldn't get a shot off with either gun. He struggled with Retsu, but dropped his guns in the process. Hanto broke free and threw a punch into Retsu's face, knocking him back. He moved forward and threw a heel kick into Retsu's gut, knocking him onto his back.

"You can't beat me," Hanto told him as he walked towards Retsu.

Retsu picked himself up slowly, catching his breath. He ran forward and tackled Hanto. Hanto didn't go down and simply started to slam both fists down onto Retsu's back. Retsu took the hits and pushed back. Once he had space he jumped up around performed a roundhouse kick.

Hanto blocked with one arm. Retsu landed and moved forward, landing a side kick onto Hanto's gut, knocking him to the ground.

Retsu threw his hand high into the air as he shouted out a single word. "Jouchaku!" Light shot down around him, forming his armor. His hand immediately shot down to his holster. He drew his weapon, keeping it trained on his friend and partner.

"I have the advantage," Retsu said, "Just surrender Hanto. Don't make me shoot you."

"Ha!" Hanto laughed, "You think you have the advantage just because you have that shiny suit? Just because you have a gun now?" Hanto threw his hands out, "Why summon? There were three guns lying around us. Oh, it's because you're scared to fight me head on. You know you can't beat me in a direct fight, so you stepped it up with armor because I can't do that."

"Just surrender!" Retsu shouted at him.

Hanto shook his head, laughing.

"Jouchaku."

Light blasted down, covering Hanto's body. Retsu stepped back in surprise, but then immediately moved towards Hanto, ready to fire. What was going on?

Hanto lifted his head the moment it was covered by a crimson helmet. He stood in the shimmering suit that Inga, Den had worn earlier. Sharivan.

"What?" Retsu shouted. "What happened to Den?" he demanded.

"Den screwed up twice in his mission. It wasn't too bad, but it was enough for Qom to pull some strings and get him under administrative action. Different than you were, though. I got his armor as a payment for the drugs. The armor, and title of Sharivan."

Retsu fired three times. Hanto dodged the first two, but took the next one as he moved on Retsu, reaching his hand down to summon his sword. He swung outwards, catching Retsu across the chest. Sparks flew as Retsu stumbled back, and then as Hanto lifted his weapon, he swung down, taking Retsu again across the chest.

Retsu rolled as he hit the ground. He knew he couldn't fight as well as Hanto could. Hanto was his friend and partner; or at least he had been. He just couldn't fight this man, even if he was an enemy now. The past was too strong; their bond was still there, somewhere.

And he wasn't only fighting Kira, Hanto. He was fighting most of the department.

"You didn't put up much of a fight," Hanto told Retsu, energized sword at his throat. "It's over. You should have learned the game while you had the chance. You'd end up surviving if you had."

"I would never have gone along with this," Retsu hissed.

"Every man can be bought. We'd have found your price to cooperate."

"No, no you wouldn't have. Because I have morals."

Under his helmet, Hanto was sneering, "Die."

Retsu tilted both of his hands a little, triggering the barrier he had built into his suit. The energy shield triggered upwards and at an angle, but the sword was too close; the barrier cut through part of it. However, it was enough to immobilize the blade, making it unable to connect to Retsu's armor, and cut off the energy flow on the part nearest him.

"What?" Hanto hissed.

Retsu rose and knocked the blade away before the energy took it over again. He stepped forward, punching Hanto once in the face. He kicked him square in the chest, sending him down onto his back.

"You haven't had the time nor training with armor that I have," Retsu told him, pouncing. The two men struggled with the sword as they fought on the ground, both trying to get a grip of it.

"I have better combat skills than you ever will!" Hanto told him, ramming his knee up and tearing his sword back as he came up to his feet.

Retsu rolled, picking up his blaster. He fired three times, but Hanto was good, and cut the blasts down. He rushed Retsu, only for him to holster and summon his own sword. Blades clashed as each tried to cut at the other.

Retsu used his free hand to punch Hanto in the face, making him stagger back. He slashed at Hanto's right hand. The blade didn't cut his armor through, but it made him drop his sword. Retsu drew his hand back and swung it out, backhanding his friend across the face.

He used his left hand to grab Hanto's shoulder, and then he sent a series of punches with his right hand into Hanto's face, while still gripping his sword. He continued, not letting up on his former friend.

Hanto broke free and punched Retsu three times in the chest to knock him back. He rolled, picked up his sword, and threw it. The blade struck Retsu in the chest, the shock of the energy running through him. He stumbled back.

Hanto drew his sidearm and opened fire, blasting Retsu reputedly in the chest and head. He slowly moved forward, not letting up on his shots until he was within arm's reach.

He kicked Retsu down, making him drop his sword. He grabbed Retsu by the arm and pulled him up, but circled his neck with his free arm before putting the tip of his gun at Retsu's forehead.

"Time to die," Hanto told him.

Retsu glanced at his left hand. He could see his suit's energy readings on his HUD, and triggered a mechanism. The energy flow went to his left hand, and his armor shifted a little. He tilted his left hand up, using the same small shaft that the barrier energy came from to funnel the suit's internal energy, firing an energy blast into Hanto's abdomen.

As Hanto was knocked back, Retsu rolled forward to get himself out of the other man's grip. He came up to his feet and in one smooth move threw a high kick up, smashing it into Hanto's face, taking him down.

Panting, Retsu stood over his friend, looking down at him. "I'm sorry," he said, picking up his sword. "You have to surrender now, or I will kill you."

The next thing Hanto knew, while doubled over in pain, the sword was in his face, but not energized.

"You're going to do it with steel alone?" Hanto hissed.

"It's all I'll need. That, and cold resolution. I've only killed once, but if you test me, I will put this weapon through your face. I feel steel is more appropriate for this than the energized blade would be. Cold retribution for your crimes."

"Heh. You would never do it."

He still had his gun in hand. He looked at the blade, and dropped to a knee, lifting his gun at the same time. Retsu had seen him go down, and angled his blade, plunging it forward at the same moment.

Hanto had actually anticipated this, but not so fast. He had miscalculated on that. The next thing he knew, his HUD was out as the blade pierced his visor, striking him through the left eye, digging through his skull.

The blade went about halfway through Hanto's skull; not all the way. Retsu wasn't willing to do that. This was more than enough.

He had just killed his friend. His partner.

Blood ran down the steel of the blade. Some of it dripped down onto the ground while more of it ran down to the grip of the blade, and onto Retsu's gauntlets. He panted hard, taking a few moments to collect himself, and then he withdrew the blade.

As soon as the blade left Hanto, the man fell to the ground onto his face. Retsu stood over him for a few moments before dropping his sword and banishing his armor in a burst of light.

He fell to his knees and looked at Hanto, shaking his head, "I'm so sorry…," he said on the brink of tears. He drew up the man's body into his arms as the crimson armor vanished, cradling the cut up corpse of his friend and partner. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"

But there was no time for this now. No. Qom had to pay for what he had done.

* * *

"I know everything," Retsu told Qom the next morning before the Commander could even sit in his chair. Retsu had made a point to show up in full uniform and earlier than expected.

"What are you talking about?" Qom questioned.

"How could you throw away everything it means to be a member of the Galactic Union Police?" Retsu hissed, taking a few steps towards his desk.

"It didn't do much harm. It was well worth the money," he told Retsu, "This department needed the funds. Keep quiet about this and you'll get a nice promotion and raise out of this whole ordeal. I still have favors to call in."

"I refuse," Retsu told him, "You don't even know me. If you think you can buy me off or try to corrupt me, you're dead wrong. I feel like you never knew me in the first place. And harm was done; people were hurt. People who mean something. Mimi may never come out of her coma, I'm sure others shared her fate as well with the bad drugs, or overdoses. And Hanto…I had to kill Hanto…"

He drew his sidearm and leveled it at Qom. Qom's hand had been slowly moving for the weapon under his desk, but now he wasn't going to be able to draw it.

"You're under arrest for conspiracy amongst other charges, Fujita, Qom."

* * *

Two weeks later, Den and Retsu stood in Qom's former office. The younger Sheriff looked to Retsu and gave him an update, "I had my armor and title returned to me last night. Commander Alan finally got it back for me."

"Good man," Retsu said.

"Former Sheriff," Den informed him.

"I'm sure he'll do nicely as the new Tokyo leader," Retsu said.

Things had been fixed in the Tokyo headquarters. The corrupt individuals had been weeded out and arrested. The drug caches were located and destroyed. The corruption had spread to other parts of the Earth division, even though Tokyo was the headquarters of Earth division. Those minor problems had also been found and eliminated.

"You should apply for a higher position," Den told Retsu.

Retsu just shook his head, "No. I can't. If I did, then Qom would get what he wanted. I need to be on the streets and keep doing what I'm doing. I need to do this for the people of Tokyo, and for the people of Earth who need me."

Den nodded, "I understand," he said, walking to the door, "You know, we're going to have a lot of work to do, to restore this department."

Retsu nodded. "I know. The two of us will do it. Together."

* * *

Retsu sat beside Mimi's bed, looking at her. She was still comatose, and there had been no updates on her status. He came every day, but it was always the same. He feared that things wouldn't improve; that she'd be stuck like this.

That he'd have to pull the plug.

Those thoughts were out of mind by the time he returned home to talk to his daughter at night. She held up another picture she had drawn, showing him his Gavan armor again.

The silver armored hero stood atop a dark building, looking out at the dark city before him. Windows were illuminated with yellow lights, providing some of the only light to the city, giving Gavan a small shine. The sun was just rising in the background, helping with his shine, casting twilight into the city.

"You've gotten really good at that," Retsu smiled. "I love it, and I love you, Jya."

"I know," the young girl said, still holding the picture in both hands. She lifted it up, covering the entire screen with the picture so her father could better see it.

He looked at the picture and could only smile as Gavan stood over the city he loved and protected, shining with the hope of the people that someone was there, watching out for them, giving them the protection they deserved.

End

* * *

Ok, so there it is.

There was originally a plan to do a second story, but I started plotting out the story the other day, and it didn't work. I decided to not go another "The End of Shocker" route and create a pretty bad story, so I'm just dropping it. Here's the updates that would have happened:

Dai Sawamura - Satoshi Matsuda (Kamen Rider Knight)

Commander Alan - Hideo Sasaki (Commander Kuroki, Go-Busters)

The plot would have involved another drug influx masterminded by a man calling himself "Hunter Killer". Mimi remains in the hospital, still comatose.

It would have opened to a drug bust on an unidentified alien and a large group of Crushers dealing with two random drug dealers. A SWAT team would have come in with Retsu and Den, while a sniper fired. The two would transform to fight the alien, but he overpowered them. The sniper could do nothing, so ran to try to get a new vantage point, making pretty impossible shots as he ran.

He'd reveal himself as Dai Sawamura and transform into Shaider to join the fight. Even together, the alien would escape. Dai would be revealed to be a genetically modified soldier; a team of Tokyo geneticists were trying to create super soldiers and create, under order of the prime minister, genetically engineered children for the next generation, so that they could fulfill roles in society.

Dai also reveals that the alien is no alien; it's a mutation from one of the failed genetic tests. They would go on in pursuit of it for some time and a new drug facility, where Taisho was also working. He'd fight Retsu one-on-one and show he actually had some skill, but he goes down anyway.

In the high security Makuu Prison, a lanky, disheveled prisoner wearing a mask is broken out by a man in a suit of armor named "Hunter Killer". He says that the man will finally have his revenge.

Hunter Killer hires a few bounty hunters to go after the Sheriffs. During their fight with Retsu, all of the power goes out in the city at once. The bounty hunters flee.

It turns out that Hunter Killer knocked out power in all of Tokyo as a show of what he can do. It would be revealed the next morning that he had also taken out the digital banks and had systems malfunction in other banks to burn them down. He's destroying the economy and plunging everyone into fear.

Hunter Killer would appear with the bounty hunters, another bounty hunter, and the man from prison. The prisoner would be revealed to be one of the geneticists who experimented on children and killed them all due to the nature of his experiments. The three Sheriffs defeat the bounty hunters, except the new one, who doesn't fight. He walks up to Hunter Killer (in his suit of armor, as always) and kills him. He fights the Sheriffs and beats them back, and then reveals himself by pulling his helmet off.

Hanto Kira; eyepatch over his left eye. Retsu hadn't killed him. He took him to the morgue then went to confront Qom. Hanto had just gotten up and walked away, adopted this new persona, and became a pirate.

And that's as far as I got. Hanto survives (Hanto Kira; Hunter Killer, it was always there) only to be killed by the three Sheriffs (including a knife fight with Retsu), Mimi dies due to the power failure, and Hanto was masterminding the plot to bring down Earth's economy. There'd have been a lot more untransformed fights, taking inspiration from Ultraseven X, and that's about it.

This will never see the light of day by my hand; it just wasn't turning out into anything I'd want to post.


End file.
